Thoughts on Money

"I just found this hammer. What should I do with it?"

Kind of a weird question, right? But it's just like asking "What should I do with this money?"

Well, uh...I dunno. That's not nearly enough information.

A hammer is a tool.

Money is a tool.

You have to get clear on what you're trying to accomplish in life before anyone can tell you what to do with... See more

Just because money feels stressful and anxiety-inducing now doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. If you want your money life to feel calm, spacious, and grounded — you can do that.

You get to decide what your relationship with money looks like and turn these money tasks into opportunities to infuse your relationship with money with a sense of... See more

That was our first lesson. To earn money, we did some house chores that we called “job-jobs”.

You could only do the paying “job-jobs” after your regular household chores.

She continued to build on this by talking to us about our futures and encouraging us to save to meet different goals instead of spending it all.

You can't win a game if you don't know the rules of the game. You need to understand how money works. You need to understand how money moves. You need to understand how to use it as a tool. My whole mantra working with clients in financial services as an advisor isn't so much to tell people what to do, but to make sure they understand how things... See more

I have great control of my money when I am earning it. I have zero control of my money when I am not.

Small Planet Institute co-founder Anna Lappé once said:

“Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want.”

This is the kind of work we do as financial advisors. We help clients lean into the tension between money and meaning. It’s not about quick answers! It’s about living with the questions long enough to align their money with what truly matters.

But consumption smoothing pays homage to an existential reality: Life itself is the ultimate scarce asset. The future is unknowable, and religiously maintaining a double-digit savings rate through the worst squalls of life is not of the utmost importance.